If// 
 
r 
 
 //// 
 
D 515 
 .M25 
 Copy 1 
 
 Foes of the World's Peace 
 
 AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY 
 
 LEWIS H. MACHEM 
 
 AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE 
 
 HIGH SCHOOL 
 Lcesburg, Va. 
 
 JUNE 13. 1917 
 
 PRESS OF HARRY W WADE. ALEXANORIA. VA. 
 

 MVG 20 ISW 
 
FOES OF THE WORLD'S PEACE. 
 
 Ladies and (irciitleinon : 
 
 If the question should be put to nine-tenths of the people 
 who dwell on earth at this time, who are the foes of the 
 world's peace? undoubtedly the answer would be the rulin<>' 
 powers of Germany, I am only saying' what all of you know, 
 when I declare, that but for the coldly planned deliberate ac- 
 tion of those powers the world would be at peace as profound 
 and blissful as in the calm springtime of 1914. 
 
 There must be few people in America who cannot realize 
 that is was the defiance upon the part of German}^ of well es- 
 tablished international law, resulting in the closing of the 
 highways of the ocean to American sliips, in a slaughter 
 upon the open seas of defenseless men, women and children, 
 and the retraction of promises solemnly made, that tlie 
 United States has been forced into the European war. No 
 people upon the earth have desired peace so passionately as 
 the American peojile during the past three years, and it is 
 doubtful whether the most ardenf pacifist has longed and 
 prayed for the continuation of the peace of this country as 
 has President Woodrow Wilson. Nevertheless, by no fault of 
 his, by no fault of Coiigross, nor of the country at large, 1)ut 
 by the fault, the sin and the boundless crimes of Germany has 
 the peace of this country been destroyed. 
 
 If the enormity of this offense is not now obvious to you, 
 it will become so as our young Americans begin to perish in 
 the European trenches and signs of mourning l)egin to 
 appear in our American homes. 
 
 Germany, this international outlaw, this Ishmael among 
 the nations of the world, has dragged other peace loving and 
 inoffensive peoples into the fiery circle of this infernal strife. 
 
 It seems impossible that anybody who had read the 
 negotiations immediately pi-eceding the declarations of the 
 present war, in the beginning of August, 1914, could escape 
 
tlio conviction that the Prussian military power, controlling 
 Germany and speaking through the Kaiser, planned and in- 
 augurated the war for reasons which have never been stated, 
 but which are now fairly understood by the world at large. 
 There are the strongest reasons for supposing that if France 
 could have been conquered without material depletion of the 
 German fighting force, the next move would have been toward 
 the subjugation of Great Britain and subsequently the hu- 
 miliation of the United States. 
 
 The annals of diplomacy reveal nothing more suggestive 
 and more atrocious than German plotting with certain ele- 
 ments in Mexico against the United States while professing 
 to be friendly toward this government. 
 
 It is idle to dwell upon the illegality of the slaughter of 
 Americans and other neutrals upon the seas by submarines 
 attacking without warning and without provision for the es- 
 cape of crews and passengers. The German government ad- 
 mitted the illegality of these things and only attemped to 
 justify them on the ground of military necessity. It is a 
 mere waste of words to point to the crime of violating the 
 neutrality of Belgium, since the German chancellor in a 
 speech in the Eeichstag admitted that it was a great wrong 
 in violation of the treaty, which, however, he had character- 
 ized privately as ''a scrap of paper." 
 
 All of the correspondence regarding the trial of the con- 
 spirators who assassinated Prince Ferdinand at Sarajevo, 
 and concerning the events which preceded the breaking out 
 of the war, was made public, except certain communications 
 which passed in those fateful days between the government 
 of Germany and that of Austria-Hungary. We are forced to 
 the conclusion that the publication of those communications 
 is withheld because it would convict Germany of the deliber- 
 ate forcing of the war upon Europe. A conviction, neverthe- 
 less, may be sustained by circumstantial evidence, and the cir- 
 cumstances in this case are so conclusive as to bring practi- 
 cally the whole of the neutral world to the conclusion that the 
 German government was guilty of this abominable crime. 
 
 If Germany had not wished war she would have joined 
 
Ilio otlior powovR in iiri^'iiii;' Anstria-IIniig'ary to arl)ilrato lior 
 diffcreiicos with Serbia. JNtaiiy a])()logists have spoken and 
 written in l)elialt' of Germany, bnt not one of them has been 
 able to state even a phinsible case. At first, it was said that 
 tlie immediate cause of the war was the mobilization of the 
 Russian troops, but these troops were not mobilized against 
 Germany but against Austria, and, moreover, it has l^een 
 proven that the Russian government, as then constituted, 
 was not hostile to Germany. It has also been said that 
 England intended to join France and Russia in making an 
 attack upon Germany. Bnt, when the Kaiser spoke of Eng- 
 land's military force as being a ** contemptible little army," 
 he abandoned any argument that England was about to 
 threaten the destruction of Germany by force of arms. More- 
 over, if the German charges were true, if would not be a jus- 
 tification, otherwise there would not be a nuirder which could 
 not be justified by the murderer saying he suspected the 
 murdered party of having entertained an intention to commit 
 murder. 
 
 Early in the war, I attended a meeting of German 
 sympathizers out of curiosity to know what possibly could 
 be said in favor of the German cause. The chief speaker was 
 a clergyman wlio said he was in Austria when the war began, 
 and lie described with- enthusiasm tlie movement of hundreds 
 of thousands of troops, with perfect equipment even to the 
 last strap and buckle, witli abundant supplies, all moved with 
 precision, as though the movement had been planned for 
 yt'ars. With a shrug, he said he did not know how there 
 could have been such perfect preparation. To my mind, tlie 
 answer to the conundrum was plain. It had l)een planned for 
 years, only waiting for an excuse, a pretext — something per- 
 haps like the forged Ems telegram of Bismarck tliat brought 
 on the Franco-Prussian war. 
 
 I go a step further along the backward course of events, 
 and find that in 1918 there was an astonishing increase in the 
 German military establishment. The intent of the law of 
 that year was to increase the number of troops, the number 
 of organizations, and tlie number of l)alaneed units, and to 
 
decrease the average age of the men of the field army. At the 
 same time, the war chest was increased from $30,000,000 to 
 $90,000,000, and for the year 1914, the military budget was 
 placed at $300,000,000. Under this Act of 1913, the mobile 
 force of trained men amounted to 2,000,000, with a reserve, 
 constituted of a second band of the landwehr and of the land- 
 strum, making a total fighting strength of approximately 
 5,000,000 men. The national debt, too, increased from 
 $790,000,00 in 1905 to $1,177,000,000 in 1912. There were no 
 corresponding increases in the military budgets of the other 
 countries of Europe. Moreover, there were reasons 
 which led many diplomats to fear that Germany was contem- 
 plating an attaclv upon France and that the drive would lie 
 made through Belgium, notwithstanding Germany had liound 
 herself by treaty to do no such thing. The German govern- 
 ment also built a series of strategic railwaj^s which gave 
 promise of military activities. When all of these things are 
 considered the evidence is overwhelming that Germany 
 planned to drive upon France at the earliest ^opportunity 
 and that the assassination of Ferdinand was a pretext only. 
 
 It may be asked why the German government was 
 anxious for a conquest, of France. The answer is that the 
 rising tide of socialism or social democracy in Germany, in 
 spite of the utmost efforts of the Emperor and his associates, 
 gave warning that unless the minds of the nation were quickly 
 diverted there was danger of a modification, if not a displace- 
 ment, of the monarchy. A brief and brilliant military cam- 
 paign would have strengthened the government in the eyes 
 of the German people who would glory in the added prestige 
 of the German army. Moreover, the addition of French prov- 
 inces, bringing the German Empire to the English Channel, 
 would have. afforded a base of operations (which would not 
 have been long postponed) against England, of whom dis- 
 trust and hatred has been for years shrewdly inculcated into 
 the German mind. 
 
 Going back to the year 1907, we find a peace conference 
 assembled at the Hague. There were gathered forty-four 
 nations. Differences of opinion there were in abundance, but 
 the representatives of Germanv were found consistently 
 
 m 
 
fio-litiiig every concrete proposition looking to a peaceful 
 settlement of international differences. They were usually 
 supported l)y tlie representatives of Austria, Bulg'aria, Tur- 
 key, Italy and Greece. Even in the matter of fixing the date 
 for the third peace conference the German delegation insisted 
 that it should not be held before the year of 1914, indicating 
 that a conference before that year might prove unacceptable 
 to the German government. No one can read the reports of 
 the second peace conference without being convinced that the 
 German delegation had orders from lieadquarters to agree to 
 nothing wliich would in any way hamper the inauguration of 
 a war l)y Germany. 
 
 Von Biebenstein's argument against the English prop- 
 osition for compulsory arliitration was most significant. Am- 
 bassador Choate, representing tlie United States, delivered a 
 scathing reply, pointing out that the German orator was 
 praising peace in the alistract while denouncing every practi- 
 cal step in the direction of peace and admiring the figure of 
 peace in the air, but fiercely attacking it as soon as it ap- 
 proached the earth. In the German delegation sat one silent 
 figure who had attended the first conference and had shown 
 himself a sincere friend of arbitration. He was sent to the 
 second conference but upon the condition that he should not 
 be permitted to speak. 
 
 In the first conference, called by the Czar of Russia and 
 attended by twenty-one nations, one memlier of the German 
 delegation was quite active. He was a Bavarian professor 
 who had actually written a book in opposition to international 
 arbitration. It is impossil)lo to belie\e that he would have 
 been selected as a representative if the German government 
 had not determined in advance to put every possilile obstacle 
 in the way of an agreement by the nations to arliitrate tlu^ii- 
 differences. 
 
 Even the mere suggestion of having an international 
 court provoked at first the liostility of the German govern- 
 ment, and it was necessary to send a delegation from the con- 
 ference to Berlin in order to secure that government's assent 
 to tlie establislinuMit of anv sort of a court. When the court 
 
was iinally created, chiefly because of the opposition of the 
 German delegation, it was not possible to provide for the 
 compulsory arbitration of any questions except those involv- 
 ing contract debts. 
 
 It is worthy of notice that at the first conference held 
 fifteen years before the breaking out of the present war, the 
 German representatives gave as their reason for opposing 
 arbitration that Germany was better prepared in a military 
 sense than any nation in the world; that the German army 
 could be mobilized in ten days, which was a feat no other na- 
 tion could accomplish, and that they saw no reason for giving 
 up that military advantage and putting themselves upon the 
 level of smaller states liy agreeing to arbitrate international 
 questions. 
 
 A man must l)e lilind indeeed who does not see in this ac- 
 cumulation of evidence positive proof that Germany intended 
 to use this military power to accomplish some secret purpose 
 before another gathering of the nations' representatives 
 should make it impossible for such a scheme to be successful. 
 
 No doubt the other nations were to blame in not taking- 
 warning and binding themselves by treaty to resist to the 
 uttermost (just as the leading free peoples of the world are 
 now resisting) a ruthless, aggressive, and cruel war, set on 
 foot for the accomplishment of gigantic crimes. If Germany 
 had been warned that any attempt to use her tremendous 
 military machine without .justification would cause the prin- 
 cipal nations of the world to unite against her, as they have 
 united, the world today would be at peace. 
 
 When this war is over there will be another gathering of 
 the nations in conference. Let us hope a league will be 
 formed for the arbitration of all international questions ; for 
 the rendering of judgments which shall be binding upon all 
 nations, enforceable by an army and a navy created by con- 
 tributions from all. Then, and not until then, will the peace 
 of the world be assured. 
 
 Back of the conference of 1899 there were other evi- 
 dences that the mind of the German nation was being pre- 
 pared for war. Besides the systematic campaign of detrac- 
 
 8 
 
tioii ni>'aiiist Eiii^'laiid, tli(M-(> was iiistnietioii .^'ivcii at llic iini- 
 versitios l)y i)ro1'ossors chosen by the central i;"()\'enniK'nt 
 such as had no i)arallel in ancient or modern times. War 
 was advocated and giorified as never Ix'l'oi-e in the history of 
 the world. The students were tani>-lit that Germany had a 
 right to rule the world through force of arms, and all senti- 
 ment tending toward peace and harmony among the nations 
 was decried as silly sentimentalism and evidence of weakness. 
 Treitschke, with liis theory that power was the o])ject of the 
 state and that all considerations of right and justice must 
 yield to the determination of the state to use its power for its 
 own benefit, was the voice of the German government speak- 
 ing to the German people and especially to the young men of 
 the ruling class in Germany. Nietsche, with his docti'ine of 
 the superman and his denunciation of Christianity as the 
 gospel of cowardice and ineptitude; Bernhardi, with his re- 
 volting theory that only through aggressive warfare could a 
 nation grow great; tliese^ and many minor voices pitched up- 
 on a like key, made the music that was pro\'ided by the Ger- 
 man government for the masses of the German people. 
 
 Even religion was used to foster tliis militaristic S])irit. 
 The teachings of Christ and his apostles regarding peace and 
 justice were repudiated. The Emperor continually clainu^d 
 that he himself was th? chosen instrument of providence to 
 liring the world under subjection to Germany. The German 
 philosophers were either atheists who constructed a cruel 
 and relentless fate, driving the nations without mercy by 
 militarism and greed, or they were blas])]ieme)-s and erected 
 a monstrous god worse than a demon, who was the junior 
 partner of the Kaiser in the bloody enterprise of crushing all 
 peoples who came between that royal lunatic and the night- 
 mare of blood and death, wliich he fancied was a dream of 
 glory. 
 
 lias enough been said to show who are beyond doubt 
 foes of the world's peace? Tf not, we might extend our in- 
 quiry back of Bismarck, back of William the First and t\\o so- 
 called Great Frederick to Frederick William I, that maniac 
 wlio, of all men iii liistorv, bv reason of his fits of anger, his 
 
whims and his calcuhitiiig" malice most resembles the present 
 German Emperor. We might even go back to the time of 
 Julius Caesar, who found these people holding war as their 
 normal life before the beginning of our present era. Some 
 say that even the word German is derived from a word mean- 
 ing war; while others maintain that it is from a word signi- 
 fying a shout, because the ancient Germans went shouting 
 into battle. 
 
 The government of Germany is an autocracy. The mon- 
 archy is to all intents and purposes irresponsible. The upper 
 house, the Bundesrath, is composed of members appointed by 
 the rulers of the various states composing the empire. The 
 people do not control it. The lower house, the Reichstag, is 
 elective, ])ut upon a system of rotten boroughs which has not 
 been changed for forty 3^ears. Moreover, it is almost power- 
 less. 
 
 The universities are not free, but must teach what is 
 agreeable to the government. The school system is rotten 
 with caste and the higher education, bj^ means of expense, 
 is deliberately put beyond the reach of the masses. 
 
 The press is not free. It has for years been subject to 
 the control of the government and is today under the most 
 rigid censorship ever imposed by any country in the world's 
 history. 
 
 The people are not personally free. Within the past 
 quarter of a century six millions have left Germany, most of 
 them to come to the United States to taste the sweet joys of 
 freedom under the American flag. The German people have 
 had their footsteps dogged by spies — just as the people of all 
 the world have been under the espionage of the prying, lying 
 and treacherous spies of Germany. 
 
 If such a country could conquer France and England, 
 who would doubt her effort to conquer America ? Who could 
 wish for this country, or for any country, a more abject fate, 
 a more frightful natural death and damnation than to bo 
 under the heel of such despots? 
 
 The only hope for the people of Germany is revolution — 
 the quick and thorough casting out of the devils who have en- 
 
 10' 
 
slaved and bolrayod thorn. Should this occur, lla,ii,-s of trnco 
 would be raised and silence would reign along the battle 
 fronts until those poor voiceless millions could say their 
 say and do the deeds necessary to ])nt an end to des]iotisni 
 and establish republican freedom in Germany. 
 
 In the meanwhile, we Americans are in the war to win. 
 Blood and treasure we must spend, and that in generous 
 measure, to help our poor brothers in France who spent 
 their blood and treasure to help us win freedom. We will 
 stand by our ancient foes, the British, who are now our good 
 friends, as they have always been our close kin. We will 
 stretch out our helping hand to onr poor, big, stumbling- 
 Russian brother groping his way toward democratic freedom. 
 We will also help that land of art and nuisic, of romance 
 and historical liackgrounds — Italy. 
 
 Yes, we'll win this war for civilization. The seas no 
 longer limit our duties, nor define our rights. Wo have 
 joined the free peoples of the world to win further freedom 
 and to protect it ; to give the death blow to the last remnant 
 of military despotism that has already drenched the world 
 with l)lood and tears, tilled the seas with the corpses of inno- 
 cent women and little children — a despotism whose record is 
 black with perfidy and crimson with murder millions of times 
 multiplied. Having saved civilization from the terror of this 
 menace, America will not only bear the proud title of the 
 land of the free and the home of the brave, but also a name 
 that will be nobler still, of the land that gave freedom to the 
 homes of brave peojile in all dominions beneath the shining 
 pathway of the sun. 
 
 It 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 021 547 276 • 
 

 If/, 
 
LIBRARY OF 
 
 CONGRESS 
 
 021 547 276